an idea for a UFC feeder show

Strikes me that, with the Fox deal, the UFC is well placed to grab new fans in America. Not everyone likes fighting on its own and may need a bit of encouragement to care. Makes sense to add a bit of a storyline to raise excitement levels.

Couple of ideas:

New stars

UFC scouts are no doubt on the look out for young fighters - the stars of tomorrow. when they see a fighter with 5 or so fights who has a good HL reel and shows real potential, they could chuck them into a fight on Fox against a current fighter on the roster.

These fights could be marketed heavily - If they win, they could get themselves a contract. A 'Star is born' match up.

not many on the current roster would leap at a chance to fight without an additional reason - so it could be made up of fighters who are close to getting cut, getting towards the end of their career, coming back from injury etc They could be offered all kinds of contractual or financial rewards for taking on an up-and-comer.

Rocky title shots

In addition. If the current roster fighter won, it could put them on the Rocky path to a title shot. say they take the gamble and win - if they then got 2 more wins in a row (for example), they could be thrown in for a title shot. they could advertise the crap out of that.

The youngster takes a massive leap forward in his career - or:
The current fighter, close to getting cut, has a chance to turn his whole career around.

it could be tricky, keeping champions busy and side-stepping the challengers who have come very close to earning shots - but to be fair, the chances of someone winning through to a title shot would be fairly remote, but that was never a marketing problem for 'who wants to be a millionaire'

i've got that stupid Fox music they use in my head. that would go so well with 'OMG, check out this rags to riches match up'

i posted a similar thread on sherdog during the blackout of '13 - it was wastelanded haha